The Galveston Daily News from Galveston, Texas • Page 9

GALVESTON COUNTY, TEXAS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1999 A9 TEXAS ondemned killer wins court reprieve on execution day By MICHAEL GRACZYK The Associated Press HUNTSVILLE ATbxas appeals court Tuesday spared con- inmate Larry Robiaon Larry itabison: He was convicted for a rairv page.that left five people murdered 17 years' from his scheduled execution and spared Gov. George W. Bush from having to decide whether to delay the execution of a convicted killer whose supporters insist is mentally ill. Robison, convicted for a rampage that left five people murdered 17 years ago, won a re- prieve about hours before he CfSiild have been put to death. 1 In a 5-4 ruling, the lexas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest ciiminal court, blocked the scheduled lethal injection of Robison afterjhis attorneys questioned the inniaie's mental competence.

he has long suffered 'from schizophrenia, he does not understand the nature of the punishment to be imposed upon Judge Tom Price wrote in a concurring opinion to the full courts brief four-paragraph order. The court was acting on a late appeal filed by Robison's attorneys to the trial court in Tarrant County, which referred the case to the appeals court in Austin. Death penalty opponents and Robison's relatives had been arguing he should from he. has long suffered from schizophrenia, he does not understand the nature of the punishment to be imposed upon him." Tom Price Judge on Texas Court of Criminal Appeals execution because he was insane and demanded running for president as 'a "compassionate conservative," show his sion by postponing, the punishment. Bush could have issued a onetime 30-day reprieve but had announced no ruling by the time the appeals court made its decision.

The governor customarily refrains from 'announcing a decision until all legal mattjers have been resolved. "There is no appropriate action for Gov. Bush to take in this case at this time," the governor's office said in a statement after the reprieve. This is a legal issue to be decided by the courts." Bush has come Under recent fire from death penalty and opponents in bis own party for remarks attributed to him in an article last week in Talk magazine regarding his handling of the case of convicted pickax murderer KarlaFaye Tucker. Tucker Former cadets honored for lifetime achievements The Associated Press COLLEGE STATION Texas University will honor a world-class builder, a combat legend, a warrior-professor and a soldier-philanthropist oh Oct.

16, inducting tile four former cadets into its Corps Hall of Honor. The; late, "Pat" Zachry Sr. of San Antonio, Maj, Gen. Raymond L. Murray of Oceanside, the late Clifford M.

Simmang dud Thomas R. Frymire of Dallas will be rec- ognised for 1 their lifetime achievements, the university announced Monday. "Induction into the Hall of Honor is the highest tribute the Corpe of Cadets can pay to its graduates." said Maj. Gen. Ted fjopgood, commandant of cadets.

"These inductees serve as wonderful role models for today's cadets." Zachry, a member the Class of 1922, founded the San Antohiq-based H.B. Zachry Co. I nduction into the Hall of Honor is the highest tribute the Corps of Cadets can pay to its graduates, these inductees serve as Wonderful role models for today's cadets." Maj. Gen. Ted Hopgooti commandant of cadets Over 60 years, the international construction firm completed numerous high-profile projects, including Spain's first nuclear power plant and the world's largest paving project, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Zachry also was chairman of Board of Directors. His anonymous donations funded scholarships for more than 1,000 students. Zachry was named a Distinguished Alumnus in 1964. He died in 1984; During Murray's. 33 years of service as a Marine Corps of- ficer, the Class of 1935 graduate earned a reputation as a superlative combat leader.

He served in Shanghai during the. Sino-Japanese War in 1937, in the Pacific during World War II and during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, earning two Navy Crosses, four Sliver Star Medals for valor and a Purple Heart. Murray retired from active duty in 1968. Simmang served in World War II with the llth Airborne and 32rtd'Infantry divisions in the Pacific, where he earned two Bronze Star Me'ddls and the Purple Heart. The Class of 1936 graduate returned to serve as head of Texas mechanical engineering department from 1957 to 1977.

Simmang continued his military career as well, rising to the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Army Reserve. He tiled in 1994. Frymire also served in the Pacific in World War II, interrupting his studies for a tour with the Army's 81st Infantry Division. Graduating in 1945 with an aeronautical degree, he founded Dallas-based Frymire Engineering a heating and air-conditioning and.

service contracting firm that became one of the largest. Frymire has endowed major university scholarships and served as president of the Dallas Club. He was named a Distinguished Alumnus in 1986. last year became the first woman executed in Texas since the Civil War despite pleas for clemency from around the world. In the article, Bush is quoted mimicking Tucker and whimpering about her pleas to remain alive.

The governor has labeled the description of him in the article as a mischaracterization. "I take the death penalty very seriously," he said last week. 1 take each case seriously." Capital punishment opponents like Amnesty International and legal and religious groups, including the Vatican, had joined in pleas to the governor, the parole board and others about Robison. "We believe that the citizens of your state and now all American voters are entitled to know just how real and deep your sense of 'compassion' reaches," William B. Moffitt, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, an organization opposed to the death penalty, said in a letter to Bush.

struggle to understand exactly what you mean by this." Robison, who would have become the 99th Texas inmate put to death during Bush's 4fe years iii office, was en route from death row at the Ellis Unit to the Huntsville Unit prison in downtown Huntsville, 15 miles away, when the reprieve was issued. "Such is life," Robison told lexas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Larry Fitzgerald. Tm going to get off death row one way or another. Maybe iVs the Lord working." Company faces fine for releasing polluted water into ship channel The Associated Press HOUSTON A waste company has pleaded guilty Monday to releasing more than 6 million gallons of contaminated water into the Houston Ship Channel, prosecutors said. FKP Inc.

faces a maximum. $200,000 fine and up to five years' probation on the misdemeanor charge of discharging a pollutant without a permit, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Magliolo said Monday. The discharge occurred over a three-day period in January 1998 after a rainstorm overwhelmed an FKP wastewater containment system adjacent to a fertilizer manufacturing plant. Initially, about 64,000 gallons of water containing ammonia nitrogen, copper, nickel, fluoride, phosphorous and sulfate was accidentally spilled into the channel.

Fearing that its dikes would crumble, FKP intention" ally, discharged another 6 million gallons, Magliolo said. "There was some merit to the fact that it was a controlled release," Magliolo said. "If they would have had a complete collapse of the system, it could have been 10 times that. What they were charged with was negligence in that they did not prepare for a high-volume storm situation." FKP pre-fceated all of the discharged wastewater to reduce environmental damage to the channel, he said. The Associated Press was unable to reach the firm.

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